The play was dead to rights, a bust destined to put Florida in a tricky spot on 4th down.

Except to Florida freshman running back Trevor Etienne, it wasn’t.

On a critical 3rd down in the 2nd half on Saturday, with the outcome of Florida’s game at Texas A&M still hanging in the balance, Florida ran an inside zone play to Etienne that was destined for nowhere.

If the Aggies come up with the stop, Gators head coach Billy Napier would have faced a huge choice: kick the field goal to go up 6 late in the 3rd quarter and trust a defense that hasn’t been trustworthy all year to do its job, or go for it, risking a potential momentum-shifting, 4th-down stop by the Aggies defense that would reenergize the flu-ridden Texas A&M bench and send Kyle Field into a frenzy.

The play looked doomed, with the Aggies getting great gap control, until Etienne put a foot in the ground, cut outside, juked a linebacker out of his shoes and somehow managed to pick up the 1st down. The Gators scored a minute later, taking a 10-point lead after Anthony Richardson found Caleb Douglas in the end zone for a backbreaking touchdown.

For Etienne, it was just the latest run that made you shake your head and say, “Wow, this kid is special.”

A 4-star recruit out of Jennings, Louisiana, Etienne is the younger brother of blossoming Jacksonville Jaguars star and former Clemson All-American Travis Etienne. Clemson and Dabo Swinney recruited Trevor hard, too, so hard, in fact, that in-state LSU more or less gave up recruiting Etienne before it ever got started.

“We just didn’t think he would be interested when everything said Clemson,” a former LSU staffer told Saturday Down South this past weekend via text message. “By the time we were dismissed, it was too late.”

Trevor Etienne decided to forge his own path instead, spurning Swinney and the Tigers for Napier and Florida. The Etienne family knew Napier from his recruiting pitch at Louisiana, and they believed deeply in what Trevor could accomplish under the new Gators head coach.

“Recruiting is about relationships,” a Florida staffer told SDS on Monday. “To say Etienne was a priority from the moment we all got here is underselling it. He was a player we had to have in our transition class. With Trevor Etienne, the head coach had a series of relationships, and (Napier’s) honesty and genuine nature — they paid off for the Gators in the end.”

The truth is, the relationships Napier had that brought Trevor Etienne to Florida are just beginning to pay off.

While Quinshon Judkins gets his rightful share of attention, Etienne has been the SEC’s “other” sensational freshman running back in 2022. While Etienne has 99 fewer carries than Judkins and over 500 fewer yards rushing, the Florida true freshman’s average of 5.77 yards per carry is nearly identical to Judkins’ 5.76.

Even more spectacular, Etienne has 17 explosive runs on 99 fewer carries than Judkins, who ranks in the top 20 nationally with 20 explosive runs. Etienne is also tied for the lead on the Gators with that number, despite having 11 fewer rushing attempts than teammate Montrell Johnson Jr.

On Saturday, the Gators (5-4, 2-4 SEC) tallied 12 explosive runs against Texas A&M on their way to 291 yards rushing in the 41-24 win. Etienne managed 2 of those runs, and both came despite contact within his first 5 yards from scrimmage.

“It’s Trevor’s combination of balance and top-level speed that makes him elite,” a Georgia defensive assistant told me last week, having just seen Etienne in the Cocktail Party. “There’s a little Sony Michel in him, in the way he appears to be gliding when he’s running vertically, but he can cut and juke you on a dime, and he almost always falls forward.”

Etienne has been doing it all season, too, a big reason what was a crowded, super-talented Florida running back room has seen the rotation trimmed from 4 to 2 as the season has gone on.

Florida has 2 All-SEC-caliber talents in Johnson and Etienne, and Napier has committed to deploying both.

The results speak for themselves. Florida ranks 20th in the country in rushing offense, 2nd (and 1st in the SEC) in yards per rush and 10th in rushing success rate (the number of times a run yields a successful yardage result, based on down and distance). Etienne trails only Johnson, Raheim Sanders of Arkansas and Judkins this year in rushing success rate in the SEC.

Only a freshman, Etienne will just get better, opening the door for larger conversations about what the young man could be in Gainesville.

Florida has not had an All-SEC running back since Mike Gillislee in 2012. The Gators haven’t had an All-American running back since Fred Taylor earned 3rd-team honors from the AP in 1997. Florida hasn’t had a consensus All-American running back since Emmitt Smith, who accomplished the feat as a unanimous selection in 1989.

Etienne looks good enough to knock down both the 10-year All-SEC and 25-year All-American door before his time in Gainesville comes to an end.

For now, Etienne and Johnson Jr. have settled into a dynamic 1-2 punch for Napier’s offense. Given that both players are underclassmen, shared duties should continue into the 2023 season. But a shared backfield didn’t stop the likes of Nick Chubb or Najee Harris (or Judkins, for that matter) from becoming an All-American, and there’s no reason to think it will stop Etienne, either.

Florida has something special in No. 7 and, as he showed Saturday in College Station, the freshman is improving every week.

“There’s nothing that kid can’t do on a football field,” a Florida staffer texted me. “Nothing. And he’s just getting started.”

It’s been a while since Florida had that type of electric playmaker. It’s been even longer since the best playmaker at Florida played running back.

Trevor Etienne looks good enough to change all of that history, and sooner rather than later.